A/N: Well here we are at the next location…if you like it, let me know…I appreciate the reviews. As always: Rizzoli & Isles belongs to TNT and Tess Gerritson...I own nothing, just love them!

Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart or in the head?

(The Merchant of Venice)

Day 6, 07:55 GMT+1, Venice, Danieli Hotel, Riva degli Schiavoni

Jane awoke to a light breeze. The heavy curtains had been tossed aside and light was filling the luxurious room with its imperial furniture. The balcony doors had been opened and air was blowing in. The detective rubbed her eyes and slid out of bed. She had to squint because her eyes had not accustomed to the light yet. The tall women made her way to the balcony and saw a silhouette against the glowing sky. Maura was facing away from her, leaning on the balustrade. She took in the sight from bottom to top. High-heels accentuated the slender long legs, the thighs and well formed bosom were covered by a white pencil skirt, a broad reddish brown leather belt draped around the alluring hips, a tight fitted sleeveless blouse tucked in, perfectly groomed fair hair was softly blown around the shoulders and reflected the sunlight like gold. The flawless figure was literally radiating against the light, like a kind of beam or halo. Wow, Jane held her breath to not jeopardize this moment of sheer ethereal beauty. Her friend was incandescently gorgeous. If she could just walk up to her and wrap her arms around her pressing her body against her own, smell her, caress her, kiss her…

Before Jane could continue her reverie, the object of her attention suddenly turned around with a broad smile on her face.

"Good morning Jane"

Clearing her throat the words only reluctantly left her lips: "Uhm, gggood mornin'"

Maura extended her hand and motioned the brunette towards her. "Come here, you have to see this, it's a wonderful sight."

Jane had had an eye-catching sight herself, but walked up to her friend. As soon as the detective was in reach, she placed her hand on her lower back and slightly moved her up next to her.

"Look, Jane. Isn't it wonderful, the Laguna, like a painting? See over there, that's San Giorgio." she declared using her free hand to motion to the island across the sea.

It was clearly glorious, but the brunette couldn't focus on the view, because her friend's hand was still on her back, caressing it in. The touch sent an unexplainable shiver through her body.

On the brunette's nod, the doctor continued: "Oh, I love Venice. Don't you think it was a good choice?"

Maura had suggested going to the Serenissima for various reasons: Firstly, she loved it. Secondly, she wanted her friend to see this outstanding city. Thirdly, it would provide the perfect setting for continuing her experiment. The rest was easy: she convinced Jane by pointing out it Venice was not on her lecture schedule and no Isles residence was there, so nobody would assume they would be found there.

"What choice did I have? Your mind was already set. Anyways, it seems like quite a nice place. Just can't wrap my head around how a whole city survives without having one single car." the brunette countered with a smirk on her face.

"Everybody uses boats Jane. There is a reason for calling it the City of Channels or City of Bridges. Venice has 177 channels and 409 bridges to be exact."

"Doubted that you'd ever not be exact, let alone be guessing" she teased the blonde, who gave her a disapproving look.

In a sudden move, Maura cupped Jane's face with both of her hands and looked at her with a spark in her eyes. "My dear, I am of the opinion that you will quite enjoy this trip." The blonde bit her lip and locked eyes with her friend.

The detective was quite confused. She had a feeling that Maura sounded, acted and touched her differently lately. The brunette couldn't put a finger on it, maybe she was just imagining that…weird.

Maura eyed her up and down in what seemed to Jane like a predatory manner and whispered: "Now, detective it's time you get that sinfully toned body of yours in the shower."

Certainly this statement added to the brunette's already elevated state of bafflement. Did she actually just check her out like that? And say that, really? Dr. Isles was known for her blunt, sometimes inappropriate statements, but this was a little much, even for her. Am I dreaming or what the hell is going on here? Showering was definitely a good idea- she needed to clear her head…

Opening the bathroom door, Jane called back over her shoulder. "I'll hurry up, Constance."

Day 6, 11:35 GMT+1, Venice, Piazza San Marco

Maura was proud of herself. She'd been bold. The day was still young, but she had lived up to her own expectations. The doctor had decided to distract herself from the fear of being followed, chased or even attacked, by putting emphasis on testing her hypothesis. It seemed to work. Amazed by her own ideas she was en route to really come to a conclusion. She wanted to know, once and for all, if her physical attraction to her best friend was reciprocated. Since they first met, the scientist was sure that she desired the detective. Jane's outstanding anatomy, the captivating way of it in motion, those seductive dark brown eyes and so much more put the doctor's socially demanded restraint to a test. Maura had never acted on her impulses, because she never knew how this would have been received. During the time they spend apart she came to the conclusion that adding a physical component to their friendship could be quite beneficial. She was certain that there was no risk of either party to fall in love with the other; it would merely add another rewarding layer. Neither Jane nor she was capable of falling emotionally for eachother, given the fact that it was so difficult for them with the opposite gender. Furthermore they came from totally different backgrounds. Love was out of the question. She couldn't imagine Jane becoming romantically attached to her of all people. The detective was certainly fond of her, but judging from her experience the warm hearted, family loving brunette was not looking for an empirical, socially awkward geek by the nickname of Dr. Death. Their characters were opposites and Maura was sure that her feelings didn't cross the line of a great friendship either. Lately she had felt very drawn to Jane, but she was convinced that this was the result of the demanding times they had experienced. Knowing herself the doctor wasn't quite sure whether she had never been in love – maybe with Ian – and that she wouldn't start with a women in the first place.

They both were fiercely independent, strong women, who were, in her opinion, more than capable of having a wonderful friendship and indulging in pleasure. So the only obstacle was whether Jane was attracted to her and willing to act upon it. Being the scientist she was, Maura came up with the plan to start an inquiry. So far the results seemed in her favour. Given Jane's reaction to her -up until now rather decent - flirting, her jealousy with Francois in the picture and her reaction to the touching. This encouraged the doctor to endeavour more intensely in order to confirm her hypothesis. Venice seemed a good place to do this, so she decided to be more balsy. Maura seized ever opportunity to touch her friend, didn't refrain from ambiguous statements and flirted uninhibitedly.

"Do you see the quadriga Jane?" she asked.

"The what?" The detective was really distracted. She was really asking herself if she was going crazy or if Maura was on drugs. If she had to bet, she'd say, the blonde was coming onto her. But Jane knew better, it was most certainly the doctor's coping mechanism for all the recent stress. She had to admit, that with all her late thoughts circulating around her best friend, her new behaviour was making it harder for Jane to focus on acting as if nothing was off. Well, she had to braise herself.

"Look, it is up there." Maura walked up behind Jane and pressed herself against the brunette's back wrapping her left arm around her waist. With her free arm, she pointed to the top of the cathedral, close to her friend's face, so her eyes could follow to the indicated spot.

Jane tensed. She remembered her notion in the morning, when she saw Maura on the balcony- be careful what you wish for Jane. Nearly paralyzed she could feel Maura's breath on her face while she whispered in her ear: "See those horses, on the terrace above the narthex dear?"

A reluctant nod followed. "There are four. Quadro is still the Italian term for the number four, it derives from Latin. So if four horses drew a chariot in Antiquity it was called a quadriga and you're facing the mother of all quadrigas."

Jane really tried to follow on the facts her friend was presenting, but she was not exactly at ease due to her friend's physical proximity. It felt so good. The doctor had a tight grip on her and she couldn't avoid feeling Maura's breasts pressing into her back. Geez Jane, focus. Horses, she's talking about horses…

In trying to keep her mind busy with anything but their touch, all Jane could come up with was a question: "Mother?"

"Yes Jane. This is the one that stood at the Hippodrome in Constantinople. Actually what you see is a replica, the originals are kept inside to protect them from environmental damage."

The tossing of terms, that Jane was unfamiliar with, gave her a most welcome distraction. "Maur, I don't speak ivy-league lingo- spell it out for me, please."

"Ok, one step at a time then. In Constantinople, today's Istanbul, there was a famous race track for horses. Hippo is Greek for horse, dromos for course. Ergo hippodrome. Those bronze statues, they are not actually bronze, but we'll not get into that, stood there. In the eleventh century the Venetians took them from the hippodrome in the course of the Forth Crusade and installed them on the St. Marks Basilica. But they didn't remain there. The quadriga was stolen by Napoleon and brought to Paris. Because of our rushed departure I couldn't show you the Arc de Triomphe, this was where they placed it."

"And they are here now because? "she pushed the geek to go on, for she did not want her to see her face. Jane knew she was blushing, because she hadn't managed to concentrate on the elaboration as much as she would have wanted to. The closeness of this beautiful woman was not ease to handle, her smell, her touch…

Maura didn't seem to be distracted at all and happily answered the detective's question. "Settling the Napoleonic wars, Venice became Austrian territory and the horses were taken down and back to up there. And if you remember, I pointed out a quadriga to you already? "

"Yes you did, in Berlin, yeah I remember."

Maura placed a soft kiss on Jane's cheek and the detective was afraid she might faint.

"What was that for?" The detective responded, finally feeling the other women's body move away from her. As much as she thought it would be relieving, she felt a sudden void in her not being close anymore. Agrrr. It's official, she was insane.

The doctor didn't miss out on the fact that her tall friend was in a complete turmoil the whole time and couldn't help but enjoy her progress, beaming.

"Well, Jane Clementine Rizzoli, that was a reward for my straight A student. Anyhow quadr…"

It was enough: "Maur – don't ever mention my middle name again, or I'll turn in to a straight A student gone rouge and throw the teacher into the canal, seriously."

The blonde smirked, turned on her heels and took off shouting "Catch me if you can detective."

Jane couldn't believe her. She always behaved a little awkward, but today was the peak performance. Looking after her, the brunette wondered how anyone could run that fast in heels and went after her calling: "Dr. Isles, this is not very lady-like! Please stop, you're wearing me out as it is. I need coffee."

Maura didn't stop, but caught the double-entendre smiling- Freudian slip? Jane caught up with her and stopped her by wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Got ya. You're lucky I didn't tackle you."

Maura smiled broadly and grabbed the brunette's hand. "Although I think it being physical becomes you - If you would have tackled me, I would not lead you the way to the best espresso in the whole of Venice. C'mon"

A/N: in the next chapter Maura will finally share her story about the professor with Jane, because she's curious how her reaction might influence her results. And don't get a wrong impression of the doctor, she might be an expert on almost everything, but her skills on reading emotions, even if they are her own, maybe leave a lot to be desired.